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Thursday, 21 November 2013

As soon as I saw this jacket in the November Burda magazine I knew I had to make it and had the pattern traced out the day I got the magazine. Finishing it took a little longer, but hey, it is still November!

I'm not quite sure what fabric Burda used, mine is a charcoal coloured doubleknit and it didn't have anywhere near the amount of body that their fabric does. I quite like big dramatic collars, in fact that was one reason I was attracted to this pattern, but it needs to be in the right fabric to work. I found it worked better if I took some of the volume out of the collar - approximately 3 inches off the straight back edge. I also decided to face the collar so I cut two additional pieces and stitched them to the outer pieces before sewing in the right hand side of the zip and then securing them to the seam allowances on the inside. This gives the front and collar a bit more structure than a single layer of doubleknit. Mine is still more of a sweatshirt than a jacket, certainly in the way it feels to wear it, but this is a good thing!

My jacket is a much simpler version in that the sleeves are in the same fabric as the body of the jacket rather than in faux leather and I didn't add the leather trim around the outside edges, mostly because I couldn't quite find the right trim and I liked the look of it as it was.

I found the instructions to be hard to follow, but that might have been my fault, they are quite long, my attention span is quite short and it's possible I missed bits. That said, it is a fairly straightforward pattern to put together, but you must label the peplum pieces carefully because they kind of all look the same.

The sleeves were insanely long, but I think they are meant to be worn scrunched up, I knew that would drive me nuts so I removed the seam allowance, added a really deep hem and they are still pretty long. The final step is to add 2 snaps and I recommend trying the jacket on to see where you want to place them to get the fit right rather than just relying on the instructions.

I love how this turned out in the end, a really cosy, comfortable, but still fitted moto jacket and the shape should work with lots of different bottom pieces.

Monday, 11 November 2013

I previously made View B of this top here and in that post said I planned to make View A. Usually making rash statements like that on this blog mean that it never actually happens, but in this rare case it did.

Badmomgoodmom asked a very good question on View B - she wondered if the asymmetric drape made it pull to one side. I didn't find that it did because the drape extends across the whole back and is caught in the back neck seam and the hem.

This time I made View A in a very lightweight and badly behaved poly. Getting the hem straight and the extra cape layer to hang properly was a nightmare. This top is supposed to be a bit longer, but as I kept trying to trim the bottom straight it got shorter and shorter until I finally just decided to hem it as it was before it turned into a crop top.

The reason I used a badly behaved poly is that I totally fell in love with the print, a sort of enlarged fish scale digital print which I found at the fabric market in Sham Shui Po. The fabric itself actually feels quite nice, it was just a devil to work with.

Sleeve detail

Neckline detail, as before I changed the facings to a binding strip, but the neckline one is too wide, not risking redoing it though and leaving visible holes.

Fortunately I don't think people will notice this in real life - the hem of doom!

Well, a few days in the magic closet and some time to forget the hemming traumas worked wonders and I now really like the top. I like this sort of unusual draped style and I really do love the print. I have some left to make another top or perhaps a scarf if I can face cutting and hemming it all over again! There are so many lovely prints around in this type of fabric that I am determined to master it.

I initially planned to wear this with jeans but in taking these photos I prefer it with the denim pencil skirt. Still, it's good to have options!